Living in coronavirusworld 222: Building the Blessed City

 12/3

72nd Street Subway Station, Yoko Ono

Go to 72nd Street to visit my doctor. It took over three months to get an appointment for my annual check up. Maybe more, it’s hard to remember. I’m used to seeing him in normal work clothes but in coronavirus world, he’s wearing blue medical scrubs, a mask and full face shield. It feels strange. I get tested and am happy to learn that after five months, I still have Covid antibodies. 

 

                                                ****

The Interfaith Assembly holds a virtual “gala” honoring “Builders of the Blessed City.” As expected, the tightly planned one hour schedule slides over to an hour and a half. A subtext of the night is that three honorees have all been related to the controversy over housing homeless men in a boutique hotel, the Lucerne, in the Upper West Side. The old school liberal elite community rose up in arms to try and drive the men out and the “progressive” mayor DiBlasio quickly caved. But another group of local residents, One Heart Upper West Side, just as quickly came out and organized in support of the men.

Larry Wood, of Goddard Riverside, the neighborhood “settlement” house, is here to introduce one of the honorees. He worked to bring Goddard’s resources to the men and even had a day program set up but the mayor’s stalling closed off that possibility. Larry introduced Manhattan Borough President and former Upper West Side City Council member Gale Brewer, long time homeless advocate, showed up in person and brought the power of her office to the struggle. She helped find legal advocacy for the residents as the court battle waged back and forth. The removal of the men was forestalled at least three times and the mayor pushed back every time. A third honoree was Peter Cook of the New York State Council of Churches who was able to bring the faith community together to support the men in various ways.  Gale and Larry were happy to announce that the latest legal appeal was granted and the men will not be removed. (At least for now.) Meanwhile the hope is that enough funding can be brought together to purchase one of the boutique hotels devastated by the pandemic. 

The final honoree is one of the residents,Shams (Da Homeless Hero) DaBaron who has become  the public face…and voice…of the residents. He tells his story of childhood abuse and homelessness from teen age years until now. And what he has learned through this process. Most importantly that you can fight city hall. Through organizing. He is also living proof that we can be allies but we should never think of ourselves as speaking for those who have no voice. The work is to enable and empower people to speak for themselves and to stand with them. That above all is the beauty and power of this night. And why I have supported the Assembly, founded in 1985, since my arrival ten years later. It's the only organization I know that goes beyond the usual basic needs meeting for people who are homeless and works for transformation of the individual and society. And actually succeeds. (https://www.iahh.org)

But the work at the moment is nearly overwhelming.  The number of homeless is now a record 60,000. My friend and colleague Father Clyde Kuemmerle reports that due to the pandemic, the comic devastation and coming tidal wave of evictions when the moratorium ends, the number cold reach 100,000.

I introduce my friend Rabbi Steve who sings his song “Bridge to Hope” as a final blessing. Then he and my friend “Violizzy” Taub and vocalist Esther Ready and me share music while the silent auction continues. Six years ago, Steve, Esther and I performed live at the Assembly’s fundraising event. Along with three others, it was the first iteration of my band.(

                                                              concert 201

 Tonight we do what we can with the limitations of ZOOM, sharing Lizzy’s video and poem, Esther and I teaming on “Light of the Stable” and all of us sharing “Hard Times Come Again No More.” I seem to be  struggling a bit this week, musically. But all things considered, a pretty good way to spend my birthday, 

Living in coronavirusworld 162: This isn't over

 9/8

candles for Mo

Cafeine decinsruction

I thought I would drop off my dry cleaning and the stop at Cafeine for one last cup of coffee on their last day. But as I pass, I see it’s already too late. Board by board  it’s already being dismantled. The coffee bar already gone. Glad I made it by yesterday for my last cup. The place looks barren. Deconstruction underway.  I have to walk three blocks north to another cafe.  

Timmy is out playing his trombone.

 Late afternoon, I need to go for a walk.  Outside the deli on Fredrick Douglass, I see memorial votive candles arrayed. I go inside. “Did someone die?” I ask. The counterman nods, shakes his head. “Yeah, Mo. Mohammed. Mo with the green eyes.” The day man. The man who greeted his Latin customers with “Habibi, Como estas?” Outside I see the votive  candle spell his name. I once asked a friend about the use of Catholic candles for non-Catholics. “It’s not about Catholic, mi hermano. We’re Latinos. That’s what we do.” And so they bring candles for their Muslim neighbor Mo. Mohammed. Mo with the green eyes. That's what we do. I notice the candles spell his name. 

Timmy is playing his trombone here and there. 

In the park, all the geese have gathered on he little island. It looks like a meeting has been called. 

Goose conference

Late breaking news. The city has decided to remove the homeless residents from the Lucerne Hotel. Moved there because  shelters were covid hot beds and hotels were empty.The reactive neighbors hired a former deputy mayor, former associate of Rudy Giuliani as their attorney to sue the city. It never even got the far. Mayor Di Blasio caved. He came into office as a seeming rising star progressive. Got caught up in a quixotic battle to remove horse carriages from Central Park. He has been vanishing ever since. Completely dismissed by Governor Cuomo. Alienated from the police who seem to have hunkered down in their precinct houses, not to be bothered.  Still somehow thought he should run for President. The homeless people  are headed back to the  shelters. They say, “This time there will be social distancing…” This once bastion of classic liberalism has become a gated community, even if the  gate is invisible. “This is a family neighborhood, they say. A pedestrian neighborhood. It just isn’t appropriate.” I feel very sad. I used to live there. 

As close as I will get to the Open this year

Later afternoon. After my walk, stop at a new outdoor bar for a shrimp taco (no drink without food)  and a "Honey Deuce...the official drink of the US Open. Keep the glass!" Every summer I spend a day at the Open with my friend Beppe watching tennis. Going from court to court to check out the action, Last year, for example, we saw Serena, Sharapova and Federer. I would always bring the glass home, winners listed on the side. This Honey Deuce is as close as I will get to the Open this year. 

Cafeine. Mo. This isn’t over.

Living in Coronavirusworld 152: Open Hearts

8/29

Neighbors

The threat of rain hovers over the day but aside from a few raindrops early afternoon, never happens.

Go to the farmers’ market at Morningside Park. Fresh ground family farmed Colombian coffee.  But to drink a cup, you have to “Step outside of the market.” Because no unmasked people allowed. 

at the Lucerene

'"Hope"

Housing Justice is racial justice

community support

Housing justice

Black lives matter

'Homeless can't stay home"

Open Hearts organizers

Walking to the Lucerne Hotel to join’s rally in support of homeless residents of the hotel.  Fredrick Douglass at the entrance to the Historical Society’s “…Hope…” exhibit.  

Hope wanted

Fredrick Douglass

A crowd has gathered at get Lucerne. Chalked messages of support on the sidewalk. Signs linking Black Lives Matter and housing justice.The event has been organized by Open Hearts Upper West Side, an organic grassroots effort of supportive neighbors. My friend Larry Wood of Goddard-Riverside speaks of their efforts to create a day space for residents to hang out in an enclosed patio of a currently unused, due to covid19,  Senior Center. 

Larry Wood speaks

When Larry rejoins me, a man comes over and begins to argue  with him about people destroying the neighborhood. Crazy people. Drug addicts. Larry reponds and also talks about the need for safe needle exchange sites. The man says, “Are you a radical Jew?” Larry looks at him in disbelief. “Are you. Jew?” Larry says, “Actually Episcopalian.” I step back, not wanting any part of the conversation. The man recognizes me and talks about “Twenty people shooting up” at West Park. I tell him “I haven’t seen that,” then see two people I recognize and excuse myself. Larry continues the conversation. 

My friends are long time neighborhood residents. They tell me in this virus world, they basically stay home except for grocery store trips and walks to the park. They saw a crowd and assumed it was “NIMBYs,” i.e. “Not in my backyard” They were moved to see it was a neighborhood support group.  I see my friend Pastor K from the church where we served meals  to the women’s shelter once a month. In BC time. K tells me most that most of his people are supportive. They are looking to join another church in supporting the hotel around the block from them. Just up the street from West Park. 

a resident speaks

Several resident speak, telling their stories. One lost his apartment wen the city ended its rent subsidy program. In the city’s upside down policy, it  pays over 3 times the cost of his subsidy to keep him on one bed in a shelter instead an apartment.  Another speaks of his recovery from addiction. Another his desire to get a job and  be back on his own.  My friend Marc Greenberg of the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and  Housing is here  to promote programs to assist people in reentering society. Which the Assembly has done, year after year.  Some people are getting ready to distribute baga of food to those who might be in need. 

Pastor K and Marc

Rabbi Steve comes from across the street where people from “the anti-side” are filming the rally with their cell phones. We talk with K and Marc.  

Rabbi Steve and I 

He offers to treat  me to a gelato. We go around the corner, enjoying the vibe of the outdoor cafes, sparkling lights in the early evening cool. I share my worry that when I watch Fox News, I realize the depth of the President’s support and fear his reelection. 

There are violent confrontations in Kenosha and Portland. 66 days to go.

Living in coronavirusworld 151: Shabbat reflections on homelssness

8/ 28

Shabbat Shalom

                                                                

Today Chadwick Bozeman died at age 43. AKA “Black Panther.” Wakanda forever. Also starred in the  movie “42” As Jackie Robinson.  Today is also the anniversary of Emmet TIll’s murder in Mississippi,1955.And Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a dream”speech in Washington, 1963.  And the anniversary of  Barack Obama’s acceptance of the Democratic nomination for President in 2008. Major League Baseball usually celebrates Jackie Robinson Day on April 15tth, the anniversary of his first game. This year in coronavirusworld that was not possible. So, when play resumed,  they set it for this day, connecting it with “I have a dream.” All players wearing (now retired) number 42. Recalling Pee Wee Reese, the shortstop, with his arm around Jackie saying, “Tomorrow let’s all wear 42. They’ll never tell us part.”  And with Chadwick Bozeman as Jackie, a circle closed. 

Rabbi Steve has asked me to preach his shabbat service tonight and to preach about homelessness. So this what I had to say:

Last Wednesday I put a post on facebook. On Monday I had attended a ZOOM meeting of our local Community Board. The issue was the placement of homeless people form the shelters in rooms in our empty Upper West Side boutique hotels. It gave people living in critically dangerous situations a place to live and the touristless hotels a source of income. Neighbors are incensed. Over the course of the meeting, I followed the chat stream and was very upset by the use of the acronym MICAHs as pejorative term for these new residents. As in Mentally Ill Chemically Addicted Homeless.  I was upset for three reasons.

singing Micah 6:6

First, we named our son Micah. We were part of a national group of young Jewish and Christian leaders who chose Micah 6:6 as our watchword. More than one family in the group had a Micah.  My Presbyterian Health Education and  Welfare Association also chose Micah 6: as its theme and commissioned a hymn to those words.  And here in New York City I am a member of the MICAH Institute’s Faith Leader’s Table, the most diverse group of faith activists in the city.  

Micah was a working class prophet, not a liberal elite court prophet. And of course Micah 6:6 is simply “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God…”   

Finally, to categorize people by situation or circumstance is to rob them of their individual personhood. We have learned from our friends in the disabilities community to use people first language, as in not the disabled, but people with disabilities. Not the homeless, but people without housing. In Berlin, the don’t say the poor, they say, people with  little money. We are not our conditions or situations. We are more than that. To call people MICAHs is even worse. Because for many the adjectives are not even accurate. 

Let me also say neighbors are assuming  the new residents are responsible for everything they see they don't like ignoring the precovid reality io an all time record high city homeless population of 70000. 

I have learned that you can’t make assumptions. My congregation, in BC times, serves a meal for guests of a homeless shelter at a  neighboring church the first Sunday of every month.  It’s important not to just serve the meal but to share the meal, break bread together. One night wee were having a discussion and the woman beside me translated a phrase from Biblical Greek.  Turned out she had graduated from the Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia. I remembered that my own thesis advisor form Yale had been found homeless in Penn Station, too embarrassed to share his situation with his colleagues. Many of the homeless women I met held jobs and worked long hours but at $7.50 an hour how can you afford a home in the city?  Included in the comments to my Facebook post were a  member of my  congregation and open mic participants sharing their own experiences. Many of us are one paycheck away from being homeless.

There is in our shared scriptures much to guide us here.  One of the most repeated phrases in the Torah is the command to care for the widow, the orphan and the stranger at your gate, in other words, the most vulnerable among us.  When they asked Jesus what the most important commandment was he said to love the lord your God with all our  heart, all your soul and all your mind and to love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22: 34-40.) Jesus was of course quoting Leviticus 19:18. Our church Bible Study took 2 1/2 years to read every word of the Torah. I was amazed to learn that the verse about loving your neighbor is at the  exact center of the Torah. Just as many verses before as after. On this, as Jesus said, hang all the law and the prophets.

Consider this….the children of Abraham were homeless for 40 years wandering around with only temporary shelters. And all politics aside, when Jewish people returned and created Israel in 1948, centuries of homeless exile came to an end, a home at last. The Jewish people have known homelessness. 

So when we look at this issue, I believe the the best advice is simply this…do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God…

Shabbat shalom…..

Who do we serve?

9/17

There was an  explosion in Chelsea last night. Do we even know what happened yet? It’s hope we live now….

Went to see  the TONY award winning play “The Humans” last week. A very powerful new play. About the struggles of a normal middle class family. Chinatown gentrifying daughter with crushing student debt, an attorney daughter who just lost her job, a father now working for Walmart. Ultimately all have common  issues. Job loss, crippling student debt, a mother who’s been ignored after 40 years in the same job… 

One of the reviews references a new report that says that for the first time in decades, life expectancy for middle class white males is dropping. And the suicide rate is hitting early AIDS like levels. 

So do we really have to wonder where the Trump support is coming from? It’s not just a "basket of deplorables.” Mainstream liberals have been so caught up  in identity issues, they have ignored class issues. a whole class feel like despite doing what they’ve been told, it juts doesn’t work…

Sweatshop Free Upper West Side is back again. It’s unique coalition,workers documented and un-, unionized and un-, cities and not, church people, neighbors, politicians, and most of all small businesses. They’ve won victories. And victories. Never lost a court case. Over 100 small businesses signed a pledge to obey the fair labor laws. Indus Valley workers. Won their case. A $700000 judgment. So Indus reorganized as  “Manhattan Valley”…and has been ordered to pay $110,000 in back wages..and fired workers who organized, Turns out this is a common solution  ….. some have done this several  times over. (We have a candidate who’s an expert at this strategy….) If it were parking tickets, these businesses would be declared  “scoffaw.” Denver boots applied to their wheels. We need an economic “boot.” We ant them not driving that car anywhere…

Jeremiah is the blues singer for his people. Looking for a balm in Gilead.

Jesus tells us a lengthy story. Another head scratcher of a parable. What’s going on?

Maybe it’s intended to be humorous. Maybe it’s against the scribes and pharisees. The wily manager wins favor for his master by reducing the debt.  But maybe it’s more. Maybe Jesus is saying we will subvert the order by forgiving. And the last lines are not confusing at all…

Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 11If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 13No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

Who do we serve? 

That is a decision we have to make as individuals, and as a church….

                  * * * * 

Of course we had to sing Balm in Gilead…and I decided to sing  Dylan’s Serve somebody 

again….even without Jeremy…( miss you man…)

You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes
Indeed you're gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody

You might be a rock 'n' roll addict prancing on the stage
You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage
You may be a business man or some high-degree thief
They may call you doctor or they may call you chief

You may be a state trooper, you might be a young Turk
You may be the head of some big TV network
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame
You may be living in another country under another name

You may be a construction worker working on a home
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome
You might own guns and you might even own tanks
You might be somebody's landlord, you might even own banks

You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side
You may be workin' in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair
You may be somebody's mistress, may be somebody's heir

Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread
You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes
Indeed you're gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody

You may call me Terry, you may call me Timmy
You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy
You may call me R.J., you may call me Ray
You may call me anything but no matter what you say

Still, you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes
You're gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody

                                       

                                            ****

Tears are streaming down her face. I invite her to come in off the steps. I can’t take it any more, she says, as she describes the abuse she’s been receiving from her partner, let’s say Norman, who was born, let’s say Jill.  Too many weeks on the street. Both off their meds. 

She’s maybe 40 something. A bit heavy. She never wanted to leave Erie where they had a section 8. But Jill had to come high  to the city. They met in prison. She’s open. About prostitution. Substance issues. I can still see the beauty there. And the sadness is profound. But it’s hard, she says, Jill was in for 18 years…almost 5 in solitary…I mean how do you be normal? And both of us, off our meds…can’t live like that…self-medicate, you know?…but I can’t be dragged down…

I use the airplane analogy…the oxygen mask drops…you put yours on first before for the child…if you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t help anyone else…

She nods. Thanks me. Tears are stopping. She turns to go back to the corner where they’re hanging. I think of the neighbor, his face twisted as he described her to me as disgusting….the kind of person he didn’t want to see in his gentrified neighborhood. An angel unaware? Child of God. Enough.

First Reading Jeremiah 8:18-9:1

18My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick. 19Hark, the cry of my poor people from far and wide in the land: "Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King not in her?" ("Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with their foreign idols?") 20"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." 21For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me. 22Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?

1O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people! Gospel

 Luke 16:1-13

1Then Jesus said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. 2So he summoned him and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.' 3Then the manager said to himself, 'What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.' 5So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' 6He answered, 'A hundred jugs of olive oil.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.' 7Then he asked another, 'And how much do you owe?' He replied, 'A hundred containers of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill and make it eighty.' 8And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. 9And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

10"Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 11If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 13No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."

Angels unaware

8/24

Let brotherly love continue.

² Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.  KJV

I like that better…angels unaware….

I live in a building without air conditioning for many apartments.  Every night, the sidewalk is filled with folding chairs, coolers, people with plates of food, just hanging out, talking until late. My son is less shy than I. So he hangs out with the people too. too. People have gotten to know him. Given the current dynamics of the neighborhood, there is no reason to welcome us. In many ways, we are interlopers. But we have been made to feel welcome. It’s about hospitality. I learned that way back in divinity school when I worked fro a neighborhood legal aid office. Many of our coworkers loved in the projects. I learned that often it is the people with the least, or the most vulnerable, who share the most. It’s about hospitality.

I’ve felt that in my music experiences. Going places, even when there’s an already established community, I have been made to made to feel welcome. (In Louisville, at Stevie Ray’s Blues Club, I was welcomed like an old friend..). I’m proud that people have that experience here in our Open Mic on Friday nights…Dion and David and David see to it. There is always food and snacks. And  encouraging words. And welcome.

Our scriptures today ask and answer questions.

The prophet Jeremiah speaks of the people having traded their God for what is not god. Having changed for that  which does not profit. Having built cracked cisterns that do not hold water. I could talk a long time about that…especially in this election year…I’d say the bottom line here is they forgot hospitality…

There is quite a list in Hebrews…for us to pay attention to….

Those who are in prison…mass incarceration continues to be a major issue. …For many in my neighborhood it’s not school to college, it’s school to Rikers….(I always get rejected from juries because I have had members in prison…like the young woman who was on our steps….)

 Those who are being tortured….for one thing, it never works…people say what you want them to just to make it stop….and this deep into Obama’s 2^nd term, Guantanamo continues…on and on…

And of course respect for marriage…

We are called to be free from the love of money….and it is interesting why… The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?" Fear and anxiety about money can lead you to compromise yourself, your values, to keep the money coming…candidates…this is true not only of candidates and private citizens but also churches…

 The recent homeless  controversy here…at it’s roots, was all about money…last night as another clergy friend and I were talking, we spoke of our desire to be part of a radical Christianity…and wondered if that is even possible when you have to worry about  keeping a building going..and bills paid…

Finally, there is Jesus and his banquet story…we’ve all seen the charity banquets, the guest of honor in the place of honor. I sometimes wonder how many banquets Bernie Madoff was the guest of honor at…

Who’s on Jesus’ invitation list?

¹³But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. ¹⁴And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

Who might you add to that list?  For years here it was the lgbtq community…today it would be the t’s, the transfolk…in our own time, after the expulsion from Zucotti Park, we welcomed the occupiers in all their idealism and craziness and…who do we welcome, need to welcome, today?

Do we really mean it?  Back up a second…before we even talk about outcasts, or as misfits, as Eugene Peterson calls them, do we extend hospitality to each other? Our own fellow members? Or let’s just  say everyday people…

I am happy about the first Sunday of every month meal we serve at the homeless shelter at SPSA….This is,as our menu planner and chef Kate says it so well, Everyone deserves Sunday dinner…no pizza or sandwiches from us…It’s a full course meal with a set table…this is Kate’s gift and she allows us to share in it….so even when she’s not there, others of our group pick up the ball and run with it..and maintain the tradition….

So have you ever seen an angel?  It troubles me all the time…when I think of those who annoy me…who I want to turn from…somewhow we have to see the face of Jesus in others and try to show then face of Jesus ourselves…so think back over the last week…any angels around you?

First Reading Jeremiah 2:4-13

⁴Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. ⁵Thus says the LORD: What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves? ⁶They did not say, "Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that no one passes through, where no one lives?" ⁷I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things. But when you entered you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. ⁸The priests did not say, "Where is the LORD?" Those who handle the law did not know me; the rulers transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after things that do not profit.

⁹Therefore once more I accuse you, says the LORD, and I accuse your children's children. ¹⁰Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has ever been such a thing. ¹¹Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit. ¹²Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the LORD, ¹³for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.

Psalm 81:1, 10-16

¹Sing aloud to God our strength;

shout for joy to the God of Jacob.

¹⁰ I am the LORD your God,

who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

¹¹ "But my people did not listen to my voice;

Israel would not submit to me.

¹² So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,

to follow their own counsels.

¹³ O that my people would listen to me,

that Israel would walk in my ways!

¹⁴ Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,

and turn my hand against their foes.

¹⁵ Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him,

and their doom would last forever.

¹⁶ I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,

and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

Second Reading Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

¹Let mutual love continue. ²Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.³Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. ⁴Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. ⁵Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you." ⁶So we can say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?"

⁷Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. ⁸Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

¹⁵Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. ¹⁶Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Gospel Luke 14:1, 7-14

¹On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.

⁷When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. ⁸"When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; ⁹and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, 'Give this person your place', and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. ¹⁰But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. ¹¹For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

¹²He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. ¹³But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. ¹⁴And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."